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Crime Apple

AirTag Leads To Arrest of Airline Worker Accused of Stealing $15K Worth of Items From Luggage (nbcnews.com) 73

Posted by BeauHD from the and-I-would-have-gotten-away-with-it-too... dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from NBC News: An Apple AirTag led to the arrest of an airline subcontractor accused of stealing thousands of dollars' worth of items from luggage at a Florida airport. Giovanni De Luca, 19, was charged with two counts of grand theft after authorities recovered the stolen items from his home, the Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office said in a news release last week. Authorities said a traveler reported last month that her luggage never made it to her destination. The items inside were worth about $1,600. She said an Apple AirTag, a tracking device that triggers alerts on iPhones, iPads and Apple computers, had been in her luggage and showed that it was on Kathy Court in Mary Esther, about 50 miles east of Pensacola.

On Aug. 9, another traveler reported that more than $15,000 worth of jewelry and other items had been taken from his luggage. Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies investigating both suspected thefts cross-referenced Destin-Fort Walton Beach Airport employees who lived near Kathy Court and found De Luca at his home. He was arrested Aug. 10. The items reported missing on Aug. 9 were recovered, and De Luca admitted to rummaging through someone else's luggage and removing an Apple AirTag, the sheriff's office said. The woman's luggage has not been found.
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AirTag Leads To Arrest of Airline Worker Accused of Stealing $15K Worth of Items From Luggage More

AirTag Leads To Arrest of Airline Worker Accused of Stealing $15K Worth of Items From Luggage

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  • Honeypot (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Joce640k ( 829181 ) on Saturday August 20, 2022 @09:10AM (#62806039) Homepage

    Given that this seems to be such a common problem you'd think the airlines could send fake suitcases through the system with trackers and smart water and stuff on the goods inside.

  • One has to wonder whether airline staff is quietly taking a raise they think they deserve...

  • TSA 007 Keys (Score:5, Informative)

    by TigerPlish ( 174064 ) on Saturday August 20, 2022 @09:27AM (#62806069)

    TSA 007 keys are available for purchase in amazon and other retailers.

    With these, anyone can pop anyone's "TSA" locks and get into the bag without a struggle.

    The way this racket has worked in the past is the screeners that X-Ray your bags tell their cronies which bags to be on the lookout for. The ones with cameras, etc. Then the bag gets pulled at some point before it goes on the container / baggage train, and relieved of its expensive burden. With TSA locks, no one will know. Before TSA locks, your zippers mysteriously broke, the latches on your Samsonite Silhouette would be mysteriously bent out of shape... etc.

    Moral of the story: Nothing but clothes and maybe basic hand tools go in my checked bag. Everything else goes in my backpack.

    TSA, another gift that keeps on giving. One more to pare down.

    • Same, and then I get special inspection every single time I fly because my carry-on contains so many wires and mysterious shapes.

    • TSA locks seem like way too much hassle. TSA previously just used a pen on your zipper. Zippers were never designed to be security devices.

    • Check a firearm (Score:5, Interesting)

      by dfm3 ( 830843 ) on Saturday August 20, 2022 @10:50AM (#62806191) Journal
      I'm serious. You have to declare it at the airline check in counter, of course, and it has to be unloaded, locked, in a case, etc. But It guarantees that your checked bag will get extra special handling the entire way and that nobody will be able to mess with it, not even the TSA, as you have to lock it up in their presence and then keep the key on you. It is a slight hassle but if you have to transport other valuables such as electronics and don't want to carry them on, it's a good workaround.

      https://www.tsa.gov/travel/transporting-firearms-and-ammunition [tsa.gov]

      • LOL talk about an American solution.

      • Never thought about that, but a really good idea to protect something valuable you have to check. And if it's oversized you can pack a rifle with it.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dfm3 ( 830843 )
          Even better is you can use nearly any case or key, no wimpy TSA approved lock*, so long as it's a case that's deemed secure enough. My brother has a large Pelican case that he transports A/V gear in. It gets a special luggage tag and they have to deliver/retrieve it from the plane by hand for you to pick up at the counter, but you don't have to deal with the crowds at the baggage carousel.

          *The idea is that TSA is not supposed to be able to get access to it, but you are required to keep your key in your p

      • Should note that it doesn't have to be a real gun. A stater pistol that uses .22 blanks or even just a receiver or barrel, the parts that make a gun a "gun" but not actually dangerous in and of themselves are enough to trigger the protection. And not as likely to get you into trouble in foreign countries too.

        I've know several photographers, pros and amateurs who used this trick to protect their gear.

      • Yeah, try bringing a firearm into an airport anywhere else in the world & see what happens.

      • Came to say the same thing. I have traveled with firearms more than once, and any other valuables go in the same case. The TSA is not allowed any access to a firearm case, and you have to lock it yourself.

        I bought a camera in LA once and put the box in checked luggage with some pastries in it, took the camera on carry on. The box never made it and the police at the airport wouldn't deal with it. The camera was around $1500 so they could have gotten a felony charge out of it (just stealing the box would

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by mjwx ( 966435 )

      TSA 007 keys are available for purchase in amazon and other retailers.

      With these, anyone can pop anyone's "TSA" locks and get into the bag without a struggle.

      The way this racket has worked in the past is the screeners that X-Ray your bags tell their cronies which bags to be on the lookout for. The ones with cameras, etc. Then the bag gets pulled at some point before it goes on the container / baggage train, and relieved of its expensive burden. With TSA locks, no one will know. Before TSA locks, your zippers mysteriously broke, the latches on your Samsonite Silhouette would be mysteriously bent out of shape... etc.

      Moral of the story: Nothing but clothes and maybe basic hand tools go in my checked bag. Everything else goes in my backpack.

      TSA, another gift that keeps on giving. One more to pare down.

      Also they are so easily picked it's not funny. I had a bunch of padlocks I'd lost the key to. Bought a set of picks for the LoLz and within half an hour of learning the basics had all four padlocks off.

      But your other point, sticky fingered baggage handlers are why I don't put anything of value in checked luggage. It's mostly for clothes. If you ever need to transport anything securely, get a decent case. Something with no exposed zippers, rigid construction, non TSA locks, et al. I.E. not most luggage. E

      • Don't even need a key, if you know how to reset. Just a pointy thing is all you need. Set all dials to 0, push the shiny silver recessed button, slide the lever the other way you would when oening, then set your new combo.

        Others have an A_B lever hidden somwhere. Set to 0, flip to B, set new number, set to A, done.

        TSA locks are an absolutely pointless federal mandate. They stop no one but the most casual of thieves.

        The case you're describing is Rimowa, and even those are still beset with TSA locks =o(

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      You don't even need a key. A cheap ball point pen can be used to open the zip on most cases.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by fermion ( 181285 )
      Like guns, I wonder where in the US people live that all this crime is happening. Not in my area. While I have been the victim of crime, it has never beeb at the levels purported here. I am on a plane a few time a year, and never have had my baggage ransacked much less lost. This is a story because it is uncommon. First because the average person who is not trying to smuggle stolen property is not going to put super valuable stuff in a suitcase. Second because it just does not typically happen.

      • If you get on nextdoor.com you'll hear about lots of crime.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by fermion ( 181285 )
          I am. A porch bandit a few times a week. One a month some major police activity. Otherwise our diverse happy area seems at peace Like I say, I want to know where in the US people live in constant fear.

          • Meh, people feel that way because a) the media tells them they live in a crime-ridden hellhole, or b) they actually do live in a crime-ridden hellhole. I've lived in such places. The nightly soundtrack was shots and sirens and the occasional car peeling out.

            But for baggage thievery, that's been a thing before planes were a thing. That's not propaganda or paranoia, it's simply a fact.

            Nextdoor, though, is the province of the Karen and the Chad, always silencing those who have opposing viewpoints to theirs.

          • ok, well San Jose in CA is constantly having catalytic converters stolen, car break ins, fires started in the back of trucks, all kinds of nonsense going on. Today I just checked and it's home invasion. There's a video of someone stealing a windchime. Fortunately light on reports of violence, but I can report firsthand that exists too. Of course this is still way better than what was going on in the 80s, but no one wants to return to that.

            I have no idea how common these are, but it's just one small neighbor

            • Catalytic converters are an item that recently became high-value and, so far, we haven't come up with good ways to prevent their theft. Except, of course, to drive a BEV. It used to be that car batteries were a common item to go after but those are now so cheap they're not worth it.

              • ok? I'm not sure what your point is. Are you saying catalytic converter theft is not crime?

                • No, what I'm saying is that rampant catalytic converter theft is not a good indicator of overall crime rates. Although many of the other items on your list are.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

                Except, of course, to drive a BEV

                Or stop driving surburban assault vehicles.

                Catalytic converters are easy to steal because the "enhanced ride height" makes it easy to get under a vehicle to take it - someone has to shimmy under the vehicle and cut it out, and it has to done in a couple of minutes.

                If you drive a vehicle which rides more than a few inches off the ground, you're a prime target and it's time to clean out the garage.

                Drive a normal car? The only way to get under that is put it on a stand or a li

      • I don't put high-value items in my checked luggage. It amazes me who these people are who do that. $15k of jewelry in a checked bag?! Seriously. Why even bring that much with you. I carry my laptop with me on work trips. If I bring a camera on personal trips, it also stays with me. If you have high-value items, pay a proper, insured shipper to deliver them for you.
    • think of it this way, these baggage handlers are risking their jobs and their freedom and for what? A handful of middle class trinkets to sell. Nothing to extravagant. The wealthy have private planes and anything *really* valuable is in carry on. It's the kind of thing you do when desperation sets in.

      You can say "well they don't think they'll get caught". That just means the folks handling your baggage are so poorly paid that they're the kind of employee who can't realize being caught in inevitable.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        I work a job with a lot of access. But it pays ok, I've had a bit of education and critical thinking training from school, and I'm not about to throw that away and do a stint in jail for a bit of extra cash. It's not some inherent morality built into me by God. It's reasoning. And if you put me against the wall the same reasoning could and would make me do dumb things.

        I am glad you can at least admit you are not a good person. That is step one, now that you understand you are a sinner you can maybe work toward real repentance.

        The fundamental problem with your approach to life is there is always going to be a moment when an opportunity presents itself. Sooner or later a chance to put your hands into the cookie jar without much chance of discovery or without much chance of recourse by anyone else will come along, and when it does guess what you will do! You can't bribe pe

    • If you travel with a firearm then you can use non-TSA locks, the luggage is inspected in front of you, and then you lock it with your non-TSA locks and off it goes.

      Best part is if/when it goes missing or is late, etc. you get to look at the airport staff and ask "Y'all gonna call teh BATFE and report a stolen firearm in a secure area or am I?"

      So if you travel with expensive photo stuff, computing equipment or other electronics, etc. it may be worth buying a $100 single shot shotgun and keeping only the re

  • Never check valuables (Score:3)

    by Registered Coward v2 ( 447531 ) on Saturday August 20, 2022 @09:51AM (#62806097)

    People shouldn't steal, but baggage theft has been a problem for a long time. Never ship valuables in checked baggage.

    My mom used to "hide" her jewelry in her checked bag. Considering it would all fit in a carry on it made no sense; and because it never got stolen my explanation of why it was a bad idea was ignored.

    All it takes is a few crooks acting in concert to steal your stuff. Even though I never check anything of value, I once had a bag of candy stolen. Didn't see that coming.

  • We put our Airtags which are usually connected to our keychains, handbag of my wife, and my backpack, into our suitcases for a recent international family trip. It was not because of fear of stealing (all real valuables are in carryon, except for a nice new chef knife I had to check in), the reason was because if all the hassle with delayed luggage because of covid - and we had to transfer flights as well. Anyway I did not need the functionality as everything arrived normally, but they are good gadgets for

    • This. I flew on business recently, and I put one of my airtags in the bag -- as a trial, because I"d never done it before, and as a means to see where my bag is. This worked better than I anticipated.

      Airport I was departing from had thunderstorms, which means the ramp is closed for as long as there's lightning on or around the airfield. I was in terminal A17. The bag was still in the main building a ways away. I checked from time to time, and sure 'nuff, not long after they opened the ramp the bag show

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The problem is that you need an Apple account and an Apple device to set them up. It's a shame all these manufacturers can't get together and agree a standard, so that Apple, Samsung, Tile and the rest all inter-operate and benefit from each other's networks.

      I've been thinking about getting some AirTags because my wife has an iPhone to set them up with. Or maybe just build some compatible hardware now that the protocol has been cracked. The Apple hardware has some undesirable features and I resent giving th

      • That could indeed be an interesting and fun DIY project, though for the little money that these cost, I think that most diy hobbyists prefer to spend their scarce free time on some other project. Anyway, all DIY is fun of course. I liked to design and diy a few loudspeakers pairs for example. Satisfying,

      • To you Apple is a problem, and a company you don't wish to patronize.

        Meanwhile, I have the same beef about Google and Android -- not a penny for Google.

        The Apple hardware, cameras, color rendition and on and on are superior to what my work-issued Samsungs had -- so I made my bed and slept in it. Apple it is for phones, PC it is for computers.

        There are vendor-agnostic non-phone-based trackers but since they ahve their own GPS and phone, they are huge, expensive, and hard to hide in a bag. AirTags, Tiles an

        • Re: (Score:1)

          by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

          The issue with GPS trackers is that to be useful to me I would need an international SIM card, and they are not cheap or very reliable in my experience.

          Google and Apple cooperated on the COVID contact tracing tech. I wish they would cooperate on this. Not just because I want tags, but because without that every Android user needs to download at least one, maybe more special apps that warns them if someone planted a tag on them. It's trivially easy to disable an AirTag's speaker, and I imagine the other ones

      • Everyone pays, one way or another. Choose Apple, you pay extra $$ up front. Choose Google, your use data gets sold to anyone with a checkbook over time. Pick your poison.

        No judgements either way. But dont kid yourself - one way or another, you pay.

  • Or else airport workers will make their lives hell

  • Apple has the FindMy feature for phones and other items. This is how one man in Ukraine was able to track where his AirPods went when a Russian soldier stole them [businessinsider.com]. This also allowed the Ukrainian military to track Russian troop movements.

    Just wait until police or other such agencies start using them (if they haven't already). You ain't seen nothing yet.

    • There are already stories about supposedly criminals taping airtags or other trackers to quickly-accessible-yet-hidden bits of people cars, then track the cars and steal 'em.

      Problem is, I dunno about tile, but airtag's *registered* to the owner's icloud account, each one has a unique serial number, and any investigator with two brain cells left should be able to follow that trail.

      Not to mention, iphones will alert you to a tag-along tag that you do'nt own, and there are apps for similair purposes in android

  • Thou shalt not post a positive story about an Apple product!

    The bigger story here is that notwithstanding all our public paranoia about data tracking, I find being tracked a lot more useful in everyday life than. anonymity. I'm safer riding Ubers than riding taxis, and for the same reason driving for Uber is far safer than driving a cab. If something goes wrong with one of my tracked bank card transactions I have recourse to a legal system that may if my luck holds protect me, while with cryptocurrency I wo

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by linuxguy ( 98493 )
      You did justice to your username. I agree with you on the public paranoia about data tracking. I love being able to keep tabs on my shit. And I also like being able to tell where my kids are. When they want me to pick them up, I don't have to ask them to tell me where they are. If there is an emergency, I'll know where to go. etc. etc.
  • Few hundred shady individuals steal the Nation and world. No arrest, glorified 'business gurus'. 14K World....

  • Take somthing out? Put somethign in? (Score:3)

    by joe_frisch ( 1366229 ) on Saturday August 20, 2022 @07:25PM (#62807197)
    It seems that a worker who is able to remove items from luggage could just as easily ADD items to luggage (drugs, bombs etc). That seems like a huge security risk.

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